Thursday 29 June 2017 saw a significant step forward for women in Northern Ireland (NI). Funding to cover the financial costs for them to access abortions in England was pledged by the Tory minority government

Short stories from other sections and co-thinkers of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI), the global socialist organisation which the Socialist Party is affiliated to. CWI stands in Northern Ireland elections; socialists gather in Latin America; anti-sexism campaign launched in Belgium.

The Northern Ireland Assembly election was a dull and uneventful affair. The result has brought little change. Yet there were significant signs that the growing alienation from sectarianism, austerity and backward social policies is beginning to find a positive expression.

On 30 November, in a landmark case, Belfast High Court ruled that Northern Ireland's archaic abortion laws contravene human rights and that terminations should be permitted in cases of fatal foetal abnormality and where pregnancy is the result of sexual crime.

Protesters around the country marched on 29 November, to demand action to tackle climate change. Organisers claim 50,000 demonstrated in central London with thousands more on the streets in Cardiff, Bristol, Edinburgh, Belfast, Southampton and more.

The last six weeks have seen one of the most high profile trade union elections in Northern Ireland for decades. The election was for general secretary of public sector union Nipsa, the largest union in Northern Ireland.

The death of Gerry Conlon in Belfast has been met with mass sympathy across the world as people are reminded of the British capitalist state's vile injustice against the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven